Cfark€,J.F 

Address -a^  fremoni 
temple.  Ooiobcrl,lddd 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2014 


https://archive.org/details/addressofrevjameOOclar_0 


I 


tIBRARV 
OF  THE 
UNIVERSITY  Of  ILLINOIS 


ADDRESS  OF 

Rev.  James  Freeman  Clarke, 

AT 

TREMONT  TEMPLE, 

OCTOBER  I,  18S4. 


ADDRESS. 


Friends^ — We  meet  here  as  Republicans,  and  as  Independent  Repub- 
licans. Once,  to  be  a  Republican  meant  to  be  independent ;  it  meant  to 
follow  principle  rather  than  party,  and  to  refuse  our  votes  to  any  man 
whom  we  deemed  unfit  for  an  office,  no  matter  how  popular  he  might  be  or 
what  influences  he  might  combine  in  his  support.  But  now,  unfortunately, 
men  may  be  Republicans,  and  not  thus  independent ;  and,  therefore,  we 
must  add  this  qualifying  term,  in  order  to  define  our  position.  We  mean, 
then,  to  say  that  we  belong  to  that  class  of  Republicans  who  in  1876,  in 
1880,  and  in  this  very  year  1884  opposed  the  nomination  of  Mr.  Blaine, 
throwing  the  vote  and  influence  of  Massachusetts  against  him  in  three 
national  conventions.  Returning  from  the  convention  which  met  in  Cin- 
cinnati in  1876,  I  heard  some  delegates  from  Pennsylvania  who  had  voted 
for  Mr.  Blaine  complaining  that  the  moral  influence  of  Massachusetts  had 
at  that  time  prevented  his  nomination.  "  For,"  said  they,  "  when  the  con- 
vention saw  the  Massachusetts  delegation  passing  by  an  eminent  citizen  of 
a  neighboring  State  in  New  England  and  voting  for  Mr.  Bristow,  of  Ken- 
tucky, they  said,  '  There  must  be  something  morally  wi-ong  about  Mr. 
Blaine.'  "  And  I  recollect  that,  in  our  State  convention  at  Worcester  in 
1880,  Mr.  Boutwell,  who  now  is  an  ardent  advocate  of  Mr.  Blaine's  elec. 
tion,  was  so  sure  of  the  repugnance  felt  to  him  by  Massachusetts,  that  his 
strongest  argument  to  induce  us  to  favor  the  renomination  of  Gen.  Grant 
was  this  :  that,  if  Grant  did  not  receive  the  nomination,  it  would  certainly 
be  captured  by  Blaine.  And  Blaine  himself  felt  so  deeply  this  opposition 
that  he  uttered  some  bitter  words  in  the  Senate  against  the  character  and 
history  of  Massachusetts, —  so  bitter  that  our  Senator,  Mr.  Hoar,  felt  called 
on  to  reply  with  considerable  severity.  We  also  stand  where  the  Repub- 
licans of  Massachusetts  stood  in  the  convention  at  Worcester,  when  Gen. 
B^l;ler  —  then  seeking  a  Republican  nomination  —  moved  that  a  delegate 
had  no  right  to  sit  in  that  convention  who  had  said  that,  if  Butler  were 
nominated,  he  would  not  vote  for  him.  Massachusetts  Republicans  then 
decided  that  they  and  their  delegates  were  just  as  free  after  the  convention 
as  they  were  before,  and  always  had  a  right  to  bolt  a  bad  nomination.  In- 
deed, these  arguments  were  so  stringent  that  they  seem  even  to  have  con- 


vinced  and  converted  Butler  himself  to  our  view  ;  for  now,  having  been  a 
delegate  to  the  Democratic  convention  at  Chicago,  he  has  bolted  its  nom- 
ination, and  is  running  on  his  own  ticket. 

Finally,  we  stand  where  the  Republicans  of  Massachusetts  stood  in 
1875,  when  they  passed  the  following  resolution,  reported  by  H.  L.  Dawes, 
our  Massachusetts  senator.  It  is  in  the  platform  of  the  Republican  State 
convention  of  1875,  of  which  H.  L.  Dawes  was  chairman  of  the  committee 
on  resolutions  :  — 

"It  is  therefore  declared  by  the  Republicans  of  Massachusetts  that  they 
will  support  no  man  for  official  position  whose  character  is  not  an  absolute 
guarantee  of  fidelity  to  every  public  trust ;  and  they  invoke  the  condemna- 
tion of  the  ballot  box  upon  any  candidate  [or  office  who  fails  of  this  test, 
whatever  be  his  party  name  or  association," 

Where  the  Republicans  of  Massachusetts  stood  in  1876,  in  1880,  and  in 
the  present  year,  we  stand  to-day.    We  cannot  see  why  a  man  who  was 
opposed  by  Massachusetts  as  unfit  to  be  a  candidate  for  the  Presidency  then, 
should  be  regarded  as  fit  to  be  elected  to  the  Presidency  now.    What,  then 
are  our  objections  to  Mr.  Blaine?    They  fall  into  two  classes, —  his  course 
in  Congress,  which  showed  that  he  did  not  understand  the  duties  of  a  legis- 
lator ;  and  his  course  since,  in  Garfield's  cabinet,  which  proved  him  unfit  for 
the  duties  of  an  executive  office.    I  have  been  accused  of  having  a  per- 
sonal hostility  or  pique  against  Mr.  Blaine.    Far  from  it.    My  personal 
intercourse  with  him,  though  slight,  has  been  pleasant.    I  regard  him  as 
an  able,  agreeable,  and  polished  gentleman.    My  objections  to  him  are 
wholly  on  public  grounds.    I  have  carefully  studied  the  Congressional 
Record  of  the  investigation  made  in  1876,  and  the  so-called  Mulligan 
betters.    I  think  that,  whatever  else  may  be  implied  and  suggested  by 
^4hem,  this  at  least  is  certain  :  That  Mr.  Blaine,  during  the  time  that  he 
cWas  a  member  of  Congress  and  Speaker  of  the  House,  was  earnestly  en- 
^^ged  in  buying  and  selling  the  stocks  of  railroads, —  accumulating  wealth 
and  deriving  special  advantages  from  these  roads  on  account  of  his  official 
{^position  and  influence ;  that  on  one  occasion  he  urged  again  and  again 
3hat  he  should  receive  pecuniary  favors,  because  as  Speaker  of  the  House 
3ie  had  helped  a  railroad  by  his  decision  ;  that  these  railroads  from  which 
sought  and  obtained  such  advantages  were  those  which  were  receiving 
Hhrelp  by  acts  of  Congressional  legislation.    It  is  not  necessary  to  go  into 
^aetails.    I  only  say  what  is  plain  on  the  face  of  these  transactions :  that 
<Mr.  Blaine  was  using  his  public  position  and  influence  to  accumulate  a 
«tertune ;  that  he  was  receiving  great  pecuniary  advantages  from  moneyed 
Corporations,  which  could  only  be  accounted  for  by  his  possessing  that 
"political  position  and  official  influence.    Now,  we  have  seen  as  honest  a 
man  as  ever  went  from  Massachusetts  to  Washington  censured  by  Con- 


868059 


gress  for  doing  what  was  not  a  tenth  part  as  bad  as  what  Mr.  Blaine  evi- 
dently did.  He  was  censured  for  mixing  up  his  private  business  with  his 
public  duties.  And  yet  his  motive  was  the  public  service, —  to  gain  help  in 
carrying  through  a  great  national  enterprise ;  and,  more  than  all,  he  prac- 
tised no  disguise,  but,  like  a  man  of  truth,  told  the  whole  story  when  called 
upon,  though,  while  he  told  it,  reputations  were  dropping  around  him  like 
soldiers  in  battle.  Here  comes  the  misery  of  it !  Mr.  Blaine  concealed 
the  truth,  denied  the  facts,  and  falsified  the  record.  That  is  the  bitterness 
of  it.  Oh !  if  he  had  only  come  forward  manfully  in  that  investigation,  and 
said :  "  Yes,  I  admit  that  I  did  what  I  ought  not.  I  see  now  that  it  was 
wrong.  I  wish  I  had  not  done  it.  But,  at  all  events,  I  will  not  deny  the 
facts."  If  he  had  done  that,  I  believe  we  should  all  of  us  have  forgiven 
him.    I,  for  one,  would  vote  for  him  for  the  Presidency. 

With  these  documents  before  us,  the  Congressional  Record  and  the  Mul- 
ligan letters, —  documents  the  authenticity  of  which  is  not  denied, —  we  are 
sorrowfully  brought  to  the  conclusion  that  the  present  candidate  of  the 
Republican  party  is  an  unfit,  discreditable,  and  unsafe  person  to  be  Presi- 
dent of  this  nation.  He  is  unfit,  because  he  has  used  public  office  and 
position  for  private  gain  and  personal  emolument ;  discreditable,  because 
he  has  disguised  and  concealed  those  transactions  by  constant  duplicity ; 
and  unsafe,  because,  during  his  brief  term  of  office  in  an  executive  depart- 
ment, he  has  interfered  without  justice  or  reason  in  the  affairs  of  other 
republics,  and  prostituted  in  the  service  of  private  interests  the  power 
confided  to  him  for  public  ends.  No  doubt,  he  has  upright  and  honorable 
men  among  his  supporters, —  some  who,  like  Mr.  Hoar,  support  him 
eagerly, —  some  who,  like  Mr.  Roosevelt,  support  him  languidly,  and  others, 
like  Mr.  Edmunds,  who  maintain  their  place  in  their  party,  but  cannot 
make  up  their  mind  to  say  a  single  word  in  his  defence.  It  was  certainly 
an  event  without  a  parallel  in  the  history  of  politics,  when  the  presiding 
officer  of  a  meeting  called  to  confirm  the  nomination  of  a  Presidential 
candidate  did  not  allude  to  him  at  all  in  the  course  of  his  whole  speech. 
It  was  like  what  Tacitus  says  of  the  absence  of  the  statues  of  Brutus  and 
Cassius  from  the  funeral  of  Junia, —  "  they  were  all  the  more  conspicuous 
because  they  were  not  there."  But  the  pity  of  it  is  that  the  former  leaders 
of  the  Republican  party  have  now  become  the  followers.  The  leaders  now 
are  those  who  skilfully  combine  politics  and  personal  gain,  men  who 
belong  to  rings,  men  who  sneer  at  civil  service  reform,  as  one  of  Mr, 
Blaine's  chief  wire-pullers  has  lately  done,  as  "  namby-pamby  politics,  cant, 
and  babyism."  The  real  leaders  of  the  party  now  are  such  as  we  scarcely 
care  to  name.  The  only  policy  which  Mr.  Blaine  seems  earnestly  to  have 
adopted  is  that  of  keeping  the  tariff  as  high  as  possible,  so  as  to  satisfy  at 
once  the  manufacturers  of  New  England  and  New  York,  the  iron  masters 


5 


of  Pennsylvania,  and  the  wool-growers  of  Ohio.  The  only  policy  of  which 
he  is  the  exponent  is  to  continue  to  compel  the  people  to  pay  in  taxes 
$100,000,000  more  than  is  needed  for  the  expenses  of  the  nation,  and  then 
to  distribute  it  among  the  States.  It  seems  to  me  that  nothing  could  be 
more  dangerous  than  four  years  of  an  administration  like  this.  One  pretty 
sure  result  would  be  the  destruction  of  the  Republican  party.  Four  years 
of  Blaine's  administration  would  bury  it  in  a  dishonored  grave.  Indeed, 
Mr.  Chairman,  I  think  that  the  only  hope  for  the  Republican  party  itself 
is  the  defeat  of  Blaine.  Going  out  of  power  for  a  while,  it  would  recover 
something  of  its  former  quality,  and  return  to  its  better  traditions.  We 
do  not  cease  to  be  Republicans,  because  we  vote  for  once  by  the  side  of 
our  opponents.  When  the  best  Republicans  of  Buffalo  united  with  the 
Democrats  in  choosing  Cleveland  their  mayor,  they  did  not  cease  to  be 
Republicans.  When  the  Republicans  of  the  State  of  New  York  united 
with  the  Democrats  in  electing  Cleveland  their  governor  by  190,000 
majority,  they  did  not  cease  to  be  Republicans.  Nor  should  we  cease  to 
be  Republicans,  if  we  joined  the  better  class  of  Democrats  in  electing 
Cleveland  to  the  Presidency.  We  should  only  show  that  we  prefer  our 
country  to  party,  and  the  safety  of  the  nation  to  the  temporary  triumph  of 
so-called  Republicanism.  Those  who  are  so  carried  away  by  party  spirit 
and  the  influence  of  a  name  that  they  think  the  party  which  supports 
Mr.  Blaine  is  the  same  with  that  which  elected  Abraham  Lincoln,  because 
both  are  called  Republicans,  show  that  they  are  cheated  by  words  and 
mistake  appearance  for  reality.  Such  loyalty  to  party  is  disloyalty  to  the 
country ;  and  to  those  who  act  thus  we  may  apply  the  poet's  words,  and 
say,— 

"  Their  honor  rooted  in  dishonor  stands, 
And  faith  unfaithful  makes  them  falsely  true." 

I  well  remember  how,  years  ago,  when  Daniel  Webster  made  his  famous 
seventh  of  March  speech,  the  leaders  of  his  party  in  Boston  seemed  for  a  time 
struck  dumb  with  astonishment,  anger,  and  .  grief.  But  soon  the  power  of 
party  reasserted  itself,  and  before  long  a  meeting  was  held,  in  which  these 
same  men  thanked  him  for  what  he  had  said.  The  same  power  of  party 
shows  itself  again  to-day.  With  scarce  an  exception,  the  leading  Repub- 
lican public  men  in  this  State  have  opposed  Blaine  until  he  was  nominated  ; 
with  scarce  an  exception,  they  have  since  come  round  to  excuse,  to  defend, 
to  admire,  and  finally  to  put  him  by  the  side  of  Washington  and  Lincoln. 
Does  not  this  remind  us  of  our  copybook  lines, —  "  First  endure,  next  pity, 
then  embrace  "  ?  Some  of  my  friends  cannot  bear  the  idea  of  a  Democratic 
success,  because  the  Democrats  were  so  bad  forty  years  ago.  To  such  an 
argument,  what  statute  of  limitations  can  be  applied  ?  The  Democrats  to- 
day are  not  those  who  began  the  war  twenty-three  years  ago,  not  those  who 


defended  slavery  before  that  time.  Let  us  follow  Mr.  Hale's  good  advice, 
and  "look  forward,  not  backward."  Let  us  remember  that  "new  occasions 
teach  new  duties,"  and  not  attempt,  as  Lowell  says,  to  open  the  portals  of 
the  future  with  the  blood-rusted  key  of  the  past.  Mr.  Chairman,  when  a 
citizen  of  a  vast  nation  like  this  is  to  perform  the  serious  duty  of  voting  for 
its  chief  magistrate,  he  should  first  ask  :  "  What  is  a  President  most  needed 
for  at  the  present  time  ?  What  are  the  most  imminent  dangers  which  he 
must  avert  by  the  power  of  his  magistracy,  the  principal  evils  of  the  hour 
which  he  must  subdue  by  the  influence  of  his  authority  ?  And  who  is  the 
man  the  best  fitted  for  this  work?"  To  me,  Mr.  Chairman,  the  chief  evils 
which  endanger  our  nation  and  public  life  to-day  seem  those  so  forcibly  de- 
scribed by  our  Massachusetts  Senator,  Mr.  Hoar,  many  years  ago.  They 
have  not  diminished  since  that  time.  We  have  since  then  seen  the  rob- 
beries of  the  public  treasury  by  whiskey  rings  and  Star- Route  rings,  which 
the  government  has  found  itself  unable  to  punish.  Strange  that  Mr.  Hoar, 
who  brings  this  terrible  indictment  against  the  national  honor,  should 
accuse  President  Eliot  of  teaching  our  youth  to  be  ashamed  of  their  own 
history.  Both  President  Eliot  and  Senator  Hoar  do  the  State  service,  when 
they  plainly  point  out  these  public  crimes  and  public  dangers.  Each  is 
seeking  to  teach  the  young  men  how  to  help  to  make  better  history. 

"My  own  public  life,"  said  Mr.  Hoar,  in  May,  1876,  "has  been  a  very 
brief  and  insignificant  one,  extending  little  beyond  the  duration  of  a 
single  term  of  senatorial  ofiice  ;  but,  in  that  brief  period,  I  have  seen  five 
judges  of  a  high  court  of  the  United  States  driven  from  office  by  threats 
of  impeachment  for  corruption  or  maladministration.  I  have  heard  the 
taunt  from  friendliest  lips  that,  when  the  United  States  presented  herself 
in  the  East  to  take  part  with  the  civilized  world  in  generous  competition 
in  the  arts  of  life,  the  only  product  of  her  institutions  in  which  she  sur- 
passed all  others  beyond  question  was  her  corruption.  I  have  seen  in  the 
State  in  the  Union  foremost  in  power  and  wealth  four  judges  of  her  courts 
impeached  for  corruption,  and  the  political  administration  of  her  chief  city 
become  a  disgrace  and  by-word  throughout  the  world.  I  have  seen  the 
chairman  of  the  committee  on  military  affairs  in  the  House,  now  a  distin- 
guished member  of  this  court,  rise  in  his  place  and  demand  the  expulsion 
of  four  of  his  associates  for  making  sale  of  their  official  privilege  of  select- 
ing the  youths  to  be  educated  at  our  great  military  school.  When  the  great- 
est railroad  of  the  world,  binding  together  the  continent,  and  uniting  the 
two  great  seas  which  wash  our  shores,  was  finished,  I  have  seen  our  na- 
tional triumph  and  exultation  turned  to  bitterness  and  shame  by  the  unani- 
mous reports  of  three  committees  of  Congress  —  two  of  the  House  and  one 
here  —  that  every  step  of  that  mighty  enterprise  had  been  taken  in  fraud. 
I  have  heard  in  higher  places  the  shameless  doctrine  avowed  by  men 


7 


grown  old  in  public  office  that  the  true  way  by  which  power  should  be 
gained  in  the  republic  is  to  bribe  the  people  with  the  offices  created  for 
their  service,  and  the  true  end  for  which  it  should  be  used,  when  gained,  is 
the  promotion  of  selfish  ambition  and  the  gratification  of  personal  revenge . 
I  have  heard  that  suspicion  haunts  the  footsteps  of  the  trusted  companions 
of  the  President. 

"  These  things  have  passed  into  history.  The  Hallam,  or  the  Tacitus,  or 
the  Sismondi,  or  the  Macaulay  who  writes  the  annals  of  our  time  will  re- 
cord them  with  his  inexorable  pen.  And  now,  when  a  high  cabinet  officer, 
the  constitutional  adviser  of  the  executive,  flees  from  office  before  charges 
of  corruption,  shall  the  historian  add  that  the  Senate  treated  the  demand  of 
the  people  for  its  judgment  of  condemnation  as  a  farce,  and  laid  down  its 
high  functions  before  the  sophistries  and  jeers  of  the  criminal  lawyer.? 
Shall  he  speculate  about  the  petty  political  calculations  as  to  the  efi^ect  on 
one  party  or  the  other  which  induced  his  judges  to  connive  at  the  escape  of 
the  great  public  criminal  ?  Or,  on  the  other  hand,  shall  he  close  the  chap- 
ter by  narrating  how  these  things  were  detected,  reformed,  and  punished  by 
constitutional  processes  which  the  wisdom  of  our  fathers  devised  for  us, 
and  the  virtue  and  purity  of  the  people  found  their  vindication  in  the  justice 
of  the  Senate  ?  " 

This  is  the  great  evil  which  threatens  the  virtue  of  the  community.  It 
is  the  mad  desire  for  great  fortunes  which  causes  the  defalcations  taking 
place  every  day,  —  of  presidents  and  cashiers  of  banks,  of  town  and  city 
treasurers,  of  trustees  holding  the  estates  of  widows  and  orphans,  and 
forces  them  to  finish  lives  begun  in  usefulness  in  exile,  death,  and  dishonor. 
The  rings  and  lobbies  which  infest  the  halls  of  Congress  and  dictate  legis- 
lation make  those  halls  the  places  round  which  the  infection  mostly  rages  ; 
and,  to  check  it,  we  need,  most  of  all,  a  man  as  President  honest  and  firm, 
belonging  to  the  older  type  of  magistrates,  who  has  the  courage  to  defy 
bad  men  in  his  own  party  and  to  check  assaults  on  the  treasury  when 
made  by  his  own  friends.  And  such  a  man  we  have  in  Grover  Cleveland. 
First,  as  mayor  of  Buffalo,  he  delivered  the  city  from  the  plunderers  who 
were  laying  it  waste,  and  received  the  cordial  thanks  of  the  best  men  of 
both  parties.  Next,  as  Governor  of  New  York,  he  has  supported,  as  my 
friend  Dorman  B.  Eaton  and  others  assure  me,  every  measure  tending  to 
protect  the  people  from  official  plunderers.  Because  he  has  plucked  the 
prey  from  the  jaws  ofCthe  wicked,  the  baser  elements  of  his  party  have 
combined  with  bitter  hatred  against  him.  This  itself  is  a  proof  that  he  is 
the  man  needed  now  to  execute  justice  on  a  still  higher  platform.  For  he 
had,  evidently,  only  to  concede,  a  little,  to  give  way  a  little,  to  make  a  few 
promises  to  these  Democratic  leaders,  bribe  them  with  a  few  offices,  to 
have  their  support,  as  he  now  has  their  determined  and  unconcealed  and 
inveterate  hostility. 


"  But  what,"  it  will  be  said,  "  shall  we  support  an  immoral  and  de- 
praved man  for  President, —  a  man  whose  life  is  stained  with  debauchery 
and  vice  ?  "  No.  No  such  man  shall  ever  have  my  vote  ;  for,  no  matter 
what  his  other  qualities  might  be,  he  never  could  fulfil  his  public  duties 
right.  A  depraved  man  could  never  have  the  moral  strength  to  resist  evil. 
But  I  do  not  believe  Cleveland  to  be  such  a  man,  and  I  will  give  my  rea- 
sons for  this  conviction. 

First. — If  he  were  so,  why  did  the  best  citizens  of  Buffalo,  who  knew 
him  well,  support  and  elect  him  triumphantly  for  the  office  of  mayor  ? 
Why  was  not  this  charge  made  against  him  then  by  those  who  knew  him  ? 
Why  did  such  an  eminent  man  as  Sherman  S.  Rogers  lead  the  Republican 
party  to  his  side  ?  And  why  were  these  charges  not  brought  forward,  when 
he  was  candidate  for  Governor  ?  The  apparent  reason  is  that  there  were 
people  enough  in  Buffalo  and  New  York  who  knew  that  such  charges  were 
false,  and  only  when  his  candidacy  extends  to  States  where  he  is  not 
known  are  the  accusations  made  against  him. 

Secoftd. —  These  charges  originated  in  one  Buffalo  newspaper,  of  which 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  copies  have  been  circulated,  which  accused  him 
of  "  beastly  drunkenness,"  "  habitual  immorality  with  women,"  of  being 
found  in  a  drunken  fight  in  a  saloon,  of  seduction,  and  of  being  a  notorious 
libertine.  Thereupon,  Rev.  Dr.  Twining,  one  of  the  editors  of  the  New 
York  Independent^  was  sent  to  Buffalo  to  investigate  the  facts.  This  is  his 
report :  — 

There  remain  the  worst  and  damning  charges  of  general  libertinism  and 
drunkenness.  I  say  distinctly,  after  abundant  inquiry,  they  are  false.  They  are, 
I  believe,  the  product  of  the  imagination  of  the  stews.  Every  attempt  to  trace 
them  led  back  into  the  merest  gossip  of  saloons  and  brothels.  On  the  other  hand, 
my  inquiry  of  the  noblest  Christian  men  in  this  city,  especially  in  the  legal  pro- 
fession, men  above  all  reproach,  men  who  will  vote  for  him,  and  men  who  will 
vote  and  speak  against  him  for  political  reasons,  men  who  know  Cleveland  most 
intimately,  who  have  been  his  partners  in  business  or  his  nearest  neighbors,  men 
who  know  him  by  day  and  by  night,  bring  the  unanimous  reply  that  it  is  utterly 
impossible  that  such  reports  can  be  true.  He  is  a  man  of  true  and  kind  heart, 
frank  and  open,  so  intensely  devoted  to  his  business  duties  that  it  is  impossible 
that  he  should  be  a  debauchee.  He  has  the  heartiest  respect  of  the  best  families 
in  the  city,  who  only  regret  that  he  keeps  himself  so  much  out  of  the  society  to 
which  he  would  be  welcome.  There  are  some  severe  prejudices  against  Mr. 
Cleveland  in  Buffalo.  They  have  their  chief  seat  in  the  saloons,  against  whose 
tyranny  his  election  to  the  mayoralty  was  the  protest  of  all  good  citizens  of  both 
parties.  They  have  not  forgiven  him  for  their  defeat.  From  the  best  sources  of 
information,  I  received  testimony  of  the  strongest  character  that  Mr.  Cleveland 
is  a  born  ruler  of  men,  of  the  greatest  independence  and  honesty  of  character,  a 
man  who  believes  in  reform  to  the  bottom  of  his  soul,  and  has  the  independence 


9 


to  carry  it  out,  and  a  man  on  whom  the  responsibilities  of  office  have  rested  with 
a  serious  and  solemn  weight.  The  men  are  very  few  who  could  have  received 
such  testimonials  to  their  efficiency  and  conscientiousness  and  independence  in 
public  duties  as  I  heard  given  to  Mr.  Cleveland  from  the  most  influential  and 
trusjtworthy  citizens  of  Buffalo. 

Third. —  A  committee  of  sixteen  Buffalo  gentlemen  were  appointed  to 
search  this  matter  to  the  bottom,  and  this  is  the  substance  of  their  report : 

We  have,  therefore,  through  a  committee  appointed  from  our  number  for 
that  purpose,  carefully  and  deliberately  made  such  an  investigation ;  and  we  have 
taken  every  available  means  to  ascertain  the  precise  facts  in  each  case.  The 
general  charges  of  drunkenness  and  gross  immorality  which  are  made  against 
Gov.  Cleveland  are  absolutely  false.  His  reputation  for  morality  has  been  good. 
There  is  no  foundation  for  any  statement  to  the  contrary.  He  was  sought  out 
and  nominated  for  the  mayoralty  against  his  will,  and  was  supported  for  that 
position  by  the  larger  portion  of  the  educated,  intelligent,  and  moral  citizens 
of  Buffalo  without  regard  to  politics  and  on  purely  personal  grounds.  We  are 
able  to  speak  from  personal  knowledge,  as  his  acquaintances  of  long  standing, 
and  to  say  that  his  general  private  life  has  been  that  of  a  quiet,  orderly,  self- 
respecting,  and  always  highly  respected  citizen.  Since  he  assumed  his  present 
office,  his  visits  to  Buffalo  have  been  few  and  of  short  duration.  It  is  susceptible 
of  absolute  proof,  and  has  been  proved  to  us,  that  upon  no  one  of  these  visits  has 
anything  occurred  to  justify  the  statements  which  have  been  made  by  his  de- 
tractors. The  charge  that  he  has  recently  taken  part  in  a  drunken  and  licentious 
debauch  in  Buffalo,  on  the  occasion  of  such  a  visit,  is  entirely  false. 

Fourth. —  One  of  the  signers  of  this  paper,  Josiah  G.  Munro,  is  a  gen- 
tleman whom  I  know  well.  I  wrote  to  him  personally,  and  received  the 
following  answer,  which  I  will  read  to  you  :  — 

Buffalo,  N.Y.,  Sept.  6,  1884. 

Rev.  James  Freeman  Clarke,  Magnolia,  Mass. : 

My  dear  Sir, —  I  beg  to  acknowledge  your  valued  letter  of  the  5th.  During 
the  ten  years  I  have  lived  in  Buffalo,  Mr.  Cleveland  has  been  my  own  trusted 
legal  adviser  as  well  as  that  of  the  Boston  corporation  whose  interests  I  represent. 
I  have  never  seen  anything  in  Mr.  Cleveland  which  would  lead  me  to  think  he  was 
a  licentious  man  or  one  who  would  associate  with  dissolute  or  abandoned  charac- 
ters. His  associates,  whom  I  know,  are  men  of  high  standing  in  the  community, — 
most  of  them  of  the  highest  standing.  He  would  be  welcomed  into  my  own 
household,  and  I  do  not  think  anything  has  kept  him  out  of  Buffalo  society 
but  his  own  modesty  and  retiring  habits.  It  is  impossible  to  answer  a  general 
a:cusation  except  in  a  general  way.  Wherever  our  committee  could  find  a  specific 
charge,  they  followed  it  to  the  source  and  absolutely  disproved  it.  I  agree  in 
thinking  that  this  failure  to  substantiate  specific  charges  is  good  proof  that  the 
general  charge  is  false.  The  whole  tone  of  Mr.  Cleveland's  daily  life  and  conver- 
sation, as  I  have  seen  it  in  private  life,  is  so  high,  his  faithfulness  in  the  discharge 


of  duty  is  so  marked,  and  the  controlling  principle  o£  his  public  life  is  so  grand  and 
yet  so  simple  that  it  would  be  impossible  for  me  to  believe  he  was  either  a  profli- 
gate or  licentious  man,  unless  the  charge  was  supported  by  strong  and  convincing 
proofs.    Believe  me,  sir,  very  truly  yours, 

JOSIAH  G.  MUNRO. 

% 

Fifth. —  A  few  days  since,  I  met  at  Saratoga  Dr.  Putnam,  of  Brooklyn, 
N.Y.,  who  told  me  that  he  had  within  a  few  weeks  been  at  the  seaside  with 
an  eminent  and  well-known  citizen  of  Buffalo,  Mr.  E.  Carlton  Sprague,  who 
told  him  he  had  known  Cleveland  intimately  for  many  years,  and  that, 
though  he  was  a  Republican  himself,  and  should  probably  vote  the  Repub- 
lican ticket,  yet  that,  "  if  any  one  was  not  prevented  by  political  reasons  from 
voting  for  Cleveland,  he  need  not  be  prevented  by  moral  reasons." 

Sixth. —  I  recently  visited  Gov.  Cleveland  in  Albany,  and  spent  an  hour 
with  him  alone  in  his  private  room.  He  talked  with  simplicity  and 
freedom,  with  a  manner  which  carried  conviction  of  his  truthfulness.  He 
did  not  pretend  that  he  had  not  done  wrong,  he  did  not  wish  me  to  think  of 
him  as  better  than  he  was  ;  but  he  thought  he  had  a  right  to  say  that,  since  he 
had  been  in  public  office,  and  for  the  last  eight  or  ten  years,  no  man  could 
truthfully  accuse  him  of  having  done  anything  to  disgrace  himself  or  to  offend 
his  friends.  From  what  he  said,  I  was  satisfied  that  no  one  had  suffered 
more  than  himself  from  his  past  errors,  and  I  was  convinced  that  he  had 
left  them  behind.  But  I  gathered  this,  not  from  any  formal  confession  or 
profession,  but  from  the  depth  of  conviction  with  which  he  spoke. 

The  one  sin  which  he  committed,  and  which  neither  he  nor  his  friends 
disguise  or  excuse,  is  that  he  lived,  some  ten  years  ago,  with  a  widow  as  his 
wife,  without  being  married  to  her.  This  was  an  offence  which  no  one  will 
defend ;  but  he  has  grievously  suffered  for  it,  and  shown  his  repentance  in 
the  truest  way,  by  a  change  of  life,  and  by  doing  good  and  useful  work 
"  meet  for  repentance."  I  agree  with  my  old  friend.  Bishop  Huntington, 
of  New  Vork,  that  Cleveland,  having  risen  above  these  past  errors  and  left 
them  behind  him,  is  not,  if  we  follow  the  principles  of  the  gospel  of  Christ, 
to  be  prevented  from  rising  to  any  height  of  usefulness.  He  has  shown 
his  repentance  in  the  true  way,  by  doing  works  meet  for  repentance.  It  is 
only  a  hard  and  narrow  bigotry  which  would  condemn  a  man  forever  for  a 
past  ill  deed. 

"  But,"  you  may  say,  "  will  you  reward  a  man  with  the  Presidency  who 
has  committed  this  offence  against  social  morals  ? "  No  :  public  office  is 
not  a  reward,  but  a  duty.  If  we  make  him,  or  any  other  man,  our  Presi- 
dent, it  is  because  he  is  well  fitted  for  the  work  of  a  President.  He  was 
not  rewarded  by  the  people  of  Buffalo  for  this  offence  (though  they  knew 
it  perfectly),  when  they  made  him  mayor.  They  took  him,  because  they 
needed  him  to  do  a  work  ;  and  he  did  it  honorably  and  well.    The  people 


1 1 

of  the  State  did  not  reward  him,  when  he  was  chosen  governor.  He  was 
taken,  because  he  was  the  right  man  in  the  right  place.  If  elected  Presi- 
dent, it  will  not  be  as  a  reward  of  merit,  but  as  selected  to  do  the  work 
because  he  has  the  power.  If  the  nation  needs  him  for  that  work,  he 
must  not  be  excused  from  doing  it  because  of  any  sin  committed  in  the 
past.  This  great  people  have  a  right  to  the  best  service  they  can  find, 
anywhere  and  in  any  man.  The  difference  between  Mr.  Blaine  and  Cleve- 
land as  candidates  is  not  merely  that  the  offences  of  one  belong  to 
private  life,  and  of  the  other  to  public  alfairs,  though  that  distinction  is 
important,  but  chiefly  this  :  that  the  offence  of  Mr.  Cleveland  is  not  dis- 
guised nor  excused  nor  defended,  but  that  of  Mr.  Blaine  is  denied  or  ex- 
cused or  defended.  The  great  harm  to  morality  does  not  come  so  much 
from  the  wrong  action  as  from  its  being  defended,  palliated,  and  called 
right.  This  great  injury  to  the  public  morals  is  now  being  done  by  Mr. 
Blaine's  advocates.  They  are  putting  evil  for  good  and  good  for  evil, 
darkness  for  light  and  light  for  darkness,  bitter  for  sweet  and  sweet  for 
bitter.  No  young  man,  who  has  seen  what  an  awful  burden  Gov.  Cleve- 
land has  had  to  carry  in  consequence  of  this  one  offence,  can  possibly  be 
tempted  by  his  example  to  any  like  iniquity.  But,  when  a  man  who  has 
devoted  himself  to  making  money  out  of  office  is  defended  for  doing  so  by 
oar  best  men,  when  asking  to  be  paid  for  doing  justice  in  a  high  judicial 
position  is  treated  as  a  mere  accident,  when  asking  a  man  to  perjure  him- 
self by  writing  a  letter  prepared  for  him  full  of  falsehoods  is  considered  as 
something  not  worth  speaking  of,  then  the  morals  of  society  are  being  can- 
kered at  their  heart.  Oh,  it  grieves  me  to  see  how  men,  whom  I  have 
honored,  and  honor  still,  can  allow  themselves  to  be  thus  misled  by  the 
spirit  of  party  !  It  is  the  saddest  fact  in  the  story  of  our  time  ;  and  I  say, 
"  Oh  for  an  hour  of  Charles  Sumner,  or  for  one  burning  speech  from  John 
Andrew  ! " 

"  One  blast  upon  his  bugle  horn 
Were  worth  a  thousand  men." 

But  the  "  knights  are  dust,  and  their  good  swords  rust."  Instead  of  the 
upright  soul  of  Sumner,'  we  have  a  bronze  statue  of  him  in  the  Public 
Garden,  probably  erected  by  the  help  of  the  Republicans  who  assisted  in 
removing  him  from  his  place  as  chairman  of  the  committee  on  foreign 
affairs  to  please  Gen.  Grant,  or  who  passed  a  vote  of  censure  on  him  in  the 
Massachusetts  Legislature  because  they  thought  it  would  be  popular.  In- 
stead of  John  Andrew,  I  am  glad  to  say  that  we  have  a  son  who  inherits  his 
father's  spirit,  and  will  not  become  a  slave  of  party  in  order  to  go  to  Con- 
gress. And  I  see  around  me  young  men  full  of  the  energy  and  hope  of 
youth  who  will  yet  redeem  the  Republican  party,  and  set  it  in  a  better  way. 


1 


12 

I  saw  its  rise,  and  I  may  live  to  see  its  fall ;  but,  if  it  falls,  something  better 
will  take  its  place.  For  this  Independent  movement  has  come  to  stay. 
Some  of  the  Republican  orators  who  have  come  from  a  distance  to  instruct 
us  have  been  disposed  to  jeer  at  this  Independent  movement  as  a  very 
trifling  affair.  So,  I  remember,  men  jeered  at  the  humble  beginnings  of 
the  Liberty  party,  and  the  Free  Soil  party,  and  at  the  whole  anti-slavery 
movement.  They  laughed  and  made  merry  as  that  great  storm  was  com- 
ing up  the  sky,  as  the  people  did  in  the  days  of  Noah,  and  knew  nothing  till 
the  flood  came  and  swept  them  all  away. 

Gentlemen,  if  you  will,  permit  me  to  close  this  serious  speech  with  a 
light  anecdote.  I  remember  my  friend,  the  late  James  T.  Fields,  once  told 
me  he  was  crossing  the  Common  one  night,  when  a  partially  inebriated 
man  stopped  him,  and,  pointing  to  the  sky,  said,  "  Why  does  not  that 
rocket  come  down  ?  "  "  Rocket !  "  said  Fields  :  "  that's  not  a  rocket,  that's 
a  star  !  "  "  Oh  !  I  beg  your  pardon,"  said  the  other:  "  I  am  a  stranger  in 
these  parts."  Those  who  think  the  Independent  movement  is  only  a  rocket, 
and  that  it  is  about  to  fall,  are,  I  think,  straijgers  in  these  parts.  They  do 
not  know  the  motives  nor  the  men  nor  the  sjfrit  nor  the  power  of  this  move- 
ment.   It  has  come  to  work,  and  it  has  come  to  stay. 


9 


3  0112  106958181 


